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POTM voting

  • Thread starter mass
  • Start date
  • #21
amphirion said:
but when it's just brownie points...what's the big deal of making much out of nothing?
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what's the big deal of changing from a fraudulent system, to a legit one?
It's such an easy fix.
Why even fight doing the right thing? What's to gain from keeping the old system?

Exo said:
I say if making the voting system tamperproof is possible, why not just do it and stop debating? I find it rediculous that such an easy fix hasn't been made.....logic dictates that if there is a problem with something...you fix it. :scratch:
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my point exactly..
 
  • #22
I agree that the vote results seem to be a bit off most of the time. Like with what amp said, great entries get low places and (in my opinion maybe) bad entries getting high ranks. I agree with Mark and Travis, there is no flaw with switching to a TF poll system so why are we still argueing about it. I know we arent winning anything but it feels bad getting a low rank, and even more so if it is a non deserved low rank like with mass, who in my opinion has some fantastic plants and photo skills. It's pretty obvious that this "anonymous" is guy is self conscious and jealous.
 
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  • #23
If we are to keep the picther of the month contest, then we should do something about the voting, and if some one on this forum is cheating the vote they need to be vaulted from the forum, seems if only current members vote, we could control each person to one vote each.
.
Had I known there was a poll going on I would have voted to change this one rule.
I missed the thread and didnt get the chance to vote before it closed.:-(

As it seems to me, my being in the top three for the past two months was a bit strange. Mass your July nep was far and away nicer than my peter'd'.

However I will keep playing nice and hope all here will do the same, mass dont stop entering I want to see your neps, and I do like seeing the nicer ones in a thread side by side, if it has to be in a flawed contest so be it. (i would opt to stop the contest,and make it a friendly MONTHLY nep show [not just a picture of the day thread thats endless] as Whimgrinder suggests) I wouldnt even care if the MONTHLY nep show was deleted after say 60 days, so we dont flood the forum with more pics, after all it would be kind of like a show , where the plants go home, no going back and saying you just showed that plant.
.
Ill go first see Monthly nep show thread today enter if you like.

I dont think most of us get to share this hobby face to face with the ones around us, so its hard not to keep showing them here, and if we only have a few, then these are going to be the ones we show again and again, thats OK by me.
 
  • #24
lance said:
Still, I think both ideas will be flat out rejected because like you said, people do like to win.
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I agree that the ideas will be rejected but disagree on why. We've got lots & lots of threads with mediocre pitchers (& pictures). We don't need to kill one of the best monthly pic threads because noobs don't have a chance to win or because a few people are overly competitive. The noobs can still enter, people can still congratulate them (if they so desire) - they just won't win (but so what?). The overly-competitive people will be yanked back into line with peer pressure. Personally, I enjoy seeing the well-grown eddy (or mature villosa or klossii or...). We don't need to change things so there are more dime-store hybrids & fewer eddy's.

amphirion said:
i've suspected that i've been a victim of one of these voting schemes or whatever you chose to call them, ...
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Ditto, except I was one of the beneficiaries. I posted my observations when the big 'poll' was being made (& before iirc) as well as in several PMs to interested people. Quick summary: after voting one month, I checked the results once or twice a day and watched as my entry was losing but then surged in the last 1/2 day before the finish (after most people had finished voting).

The poll that was used to decide whether to change anything was flawed. It asked far too many questions (which led to people just rubber-stamping their votes). My objections (& the ensuing discussions) were not enough to overturn the results for that one question (which voting service to use) since most people had already voted.

So yes, the results have been 'tainted' but as many have already posted - it's not a big deal. There's no real prize (or not much of one) and we all get to oogle some very cool Nep pitchers and sometimes some really good photography as well. Which leads us to ...

Exo said:
I say if making the voting system tamperproof is possible, why not just do it and stop debating? I find it rediculous that such an easy fix hasn't been made.....logic dictates that if there is a problem with something...you fix it. :scratch:
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I don't 'know' if the TF system is a cure-all but why not try it for a month or two? There's little to no downside ... ???

Soapbox mode: *OFF*
 
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  • #25
I think it would be interesting to ask people: what motivates you to take and submit photos to the POTM?
 
  • #26
I've always thought it was the motivation of wanting to get on the Hall of Fame where your pitcher would be on display for all to see.
 
  • #27
lance said:
I've always thought it was the motivation of wanting to get on the Hall of Fame where your pitcher would be on display for all to see.
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In what way does the hall of fame have greater appeal than any thread that offers photos "for all to see"? In my mind, that would be an artificial distinction.
 
  • #28
  • #29
Haven't seen the results of July's contest, but unless I'm dead last again I think "Anonymous" was referring more to that contest a couple of months ago. We all know the one..
I think last month and the month before turned out pretty fair considering the competition.

The whole point was:
1. Why not just use a TF poll so we don't even have to worry about swayed votes?
2. I know we already voted on the voting process, but that was a confusing 250 question poll. This thread was focused on just the ONE question that actually mattered to me. And no, it wasn't the 6 month rule.
 
  • #30
I actually liked using the TF poll more, it was nice to be able to just scroll down and see the entries again before making my choices.
 
  • #31
I'm okay with it, though generally not being able to rate them from top to bottom and assign first, second, third and so on leads to another kind of skew - one where people vote for their own entries.

No one way is perfect but why not give it a shot?
 
  • #32
I agree that I miss not being able to rank them, but I still prefer the TF poll over the other. If keeping the voting inhouse could remove or minimize any potential tampering, I see no reason not to.
Does the poll allow someone to choose more than 3 entries? If so, that may be a way people could potentially tamper with the results.
 
  • #33
1) Images can be embedded in the Cornell poll. It just takes a lot of extra typing to put the HTML code in.
2) Polls can require a valid email address for each voter. This means the manager has to collect email address and enter them into the poll which sends an email to the voter with a URL and unique key.
3) Polls can display the raw ballots. If the email key option is used the email address associated to each ballot can also be displayed. However this means the address will be stored on the server forever and not discarded. The email address are also visible to anybody that has the URL to the poll.
4) A poll can be set to private and the results will not be displayed until after the poll closes. This has possibilities.
5) Public polls can be embedded in regular webpages. A poll may be able to be embedded within a TF post. I'll have to play with the HTML and see if this is possible. If this is possible it means you can vote directly from TF into the Cornell poll.*

Results between the TerraForums poll system and the Cornell system can't really be compared. The TF system just gives the percent votes of each choice to the total number of votes. The Cornell poll uses a ranking or weighted system (as Brokken points out). It tallies the rank each choice is given by a voter. So if you just vote one choice at first place all the other choice will receive one vote at (say out of 14) 14th place. Ranking all 14 choices 1 through 14 would mean each choice would receive a vote at the rank you assigned it - so you will get much different results. The Cornell poll also uses a proportional system which compares each ranking group to another. I don't understand it so don't ask me. It hasn't interested me enough to get into the math and theory behind it.
 
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  • #34
edit: nothing of value to add :)
 
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  • #35
As I said in a previous post, why don't we just make the voting public, similar to "picking a number" in a giveaway? This would ensure that 1) people couldn't vote more than once 2) people would be reluctant to vote for themselves and 3) voting people down due to poor association would be conspicuous and probably avoided. I think in this particular instance, eliminating voter confidentiality would help more than it would hurt.

Also, we could limit discussion in the POTM thread similar to that of the NASC auction and "members photos" threads, in order to keep some of these specious debates to a minimum.
 
  • #36
mato said:
As I said in a previous post, why don't we just make the voting public, similar to "picking a number" in a giveaway? This would ensure that 1) people couldn't vote more than once 2) people would be reluctant to vote for themselves and 3) voting people down due to poor association would be conspicuous and probably avoided. I think in this particular instance, eliminating voter confidentiality would help more than it would hurt.

Also, we could limit discussion in the POTM thread similar to that of the NASC auction and "members photos" threads, in order to keep some of these specious debates to a minimum.
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Like!
 
  • #37
I really like that idea too, mato. Sounds like the best way to effectively answer all the problems we've been having
 
  • #38
The problem with that is some people might get bent out of shape when they see their friends didn't vote for their entry or voted for someone else's. Some ballots are best kept secret.
 
  • #39
Not a Number said:
The problem with that is some people might get bent out of shape when their friends don't vote for their entry or vote for someone else's. Some ballots are best kept secret.
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Those people should probably grow up and quit taking little things so personal.
 
  • #40
31drew31 said:
Those people should probably grow up and quit taking little things so personal.
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I think the fact that this has been a reoccuring problem is evidence that is not likely
 
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